Footsteps
by JapFreaky
Summary: The footsteps dragged; they trudged across the pavement with harsh, low noises. His ears prickled at the sound. One-shot.


**Being in the KnB fandom changes my writing style. :/ Which is a good thing I suppose, or I'll bombard the AoKise fandom with lots of angst. Well, I guess this is the one where the timeline is a lil' messed up. Just a little. Not too much. Okay, actually this is sort of practicing for one original fic that I finally figure out how I should write it but I'm rambling again. Oops.**

**Inspiration was when I was walking to school and I suddenly thought about the difference in my walking speed. Before, I used to walk pretty fast and my friends would complain and ask me to lower my speed, but now, I walk extremely slowly, as if I'm sightseeing or something. XD Somehow, it just led to this idea. And yes, I know, the line-breaks look annoying. It didn't when I was typi**ng it on wrod (probably because I didn't use a line to break the scene..) Rated T because I'm paranoid and for that one colourful word Aomine Daiki uses here. **  
**

**...**

**Yeah, I know. I'm on hiatus so, why the heck am I writing this, you ask?**

**This is meant to be a birthday fic for my best friend who introduced me to KnB in the first place and I believe the person who actually planted the seeds of Aokise in me. XD Happy birthday!**

**Disclaimer: I know nothing about basketball, do you think I'll own Kuroko no Basket? Nope.**

* * *

The footsteps had become lighter, he realized.

He wasn't sure when it happened. It was only normal, considering that they were living in different cities now and they barely ever see each other. Or actually, scratch that, they hadn't seen each other at all. The annoying texts and phone calls had stopped since the last year of their middle school and so it's only natural, he told himself, if he didn't know why (or when) the sound of his friend's footsteps changed.

The blond was humming a disgustingly joyful tone, shuffling around the convenience store lightly. Why was the dumb blond doing in Tokyo anyway? He stared at the model for a few seconds before a thought occurred to him.

Aomine grunted, turning to grab a bottle Pocari Sweat before heading to the counter.

The faster he got out of here, the better.

* * *

He remembered the time the blond entered his life.

Momoi and her friends had been gushing over the model, Kise Ryouta, who apparently happened to be in the same school, or so he picked up from their conversation. Aomine didn't know why the heck Momoi decided to bring her friends to the rooftop when she obviously knew that he would be there, wanting to catch some sleep. But when the squeals and giggles got too much, he turned over to his back, fully prepared to ask them to go away (_politely_, mind you. They were still Momoi's friends and he wasn't going to see his best friend make that sad face whenever he treated her friends badly) when the pink-haired girl pushed a page of a magazine to his face. The first thing he caught was the warm honey brown eyes. And his first thought was: _those eyelashes_.

The next thing he heard about Kise Ryouta was about how he breezed through sports. He wouldn't deny that he was interested.

The first time he saw him for real was during basketball practice. Aomine was at the gym door when the golden boy passed him.

The next thing he noted (after the bright blond hair) was:

His heavy footsteps.

Strangely enough, the blond's back _–_ though as tall and broad as any guy at their age should be _–_ looked lonely. Aomine wondered why. Even though he had the looks and the talent in sports?

The footsteps dragged; they trudged across the pavement with harsh, low noises.

His ears prickled at the sound.

Before he knew it, he had raised the basketball and thrown it accurately at the blond head.

.

"Sorry, sorry! Well, if it isn't the popular and famous Kise-kun!"

* * *

"Aominecchi?"

He halted in his steps and turned around reluctantly. _Escape attempt failed._ Standing there in all the glory of the blue and white jersey of Kaijou was Kise Ryouta. The tanned boy tried not to think about the confused and surprised way he said his name.

"If you were inside, you should have called out to me." The Kaijou ace frowned.

"Didn't see you," he lied.

If he caught his lie, he didn't say anything. "Why are you doing in Tokyo anyway." Aomine asked like he didn't care about the answer.

"Mm, visiting Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi at Seirin."

So he was at Seirin. He was right after all. But...

"… Kagamicchi?"

_Who's that?_

"Ah, he's Kurokocchi's new light. He's amazing. Maybe Aominecchi should watch out too," he answered teasingly.

The Touou ace didn't reply.

Kagami_–cchi_.

Was he the one who changed Kise?

Aomine unscrewed the cap of the bottle with a lot more force than needed. Maybe he'll take a look at this Kagami guy.

* * *

There was a skip in his steps now.

"Aominecchi!"

"What's with the –cchi?"

"It's cute!"

"Which is why I've been asking you to drop it."

"But I only add that to the people I respect!"

A pause.

"… Aominecchi?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's play one-on-one!"

"Huh? Didn't you just join like two weeks ago?"

"But I'm already in the first string, Aominecchi!"

"Well… That's true…"

"..."

"..."

"Please?"

He lost to the pleading honey-brown eyes and the ridiculously long eyelashes. He told himself that it was because of the annoying whines though.

.

Kise lay on the floor after the game, exhausted.

"Already done, Kise-kun?"

The brown eyes flared and he jumped to his feet. "Far from it! One more time, Aominecchi!"

.

When they finally locked up the gym, there was a large grin on Kise's face. "You're so cool, Aominecchi!"

Facing the pure happiness radiating from his teammate, Aomine thought maybe the –cchi wasn't that bad after all.

And there was a skip in the model's steps now.

Much lighter.

Almost joyful.

* * *

When he saw Kagami for the first time, there, in the public basketball court, he crushed him.

.

He'd known the redhead was injured of course, but the hell should he care.

* * *

He'd known.

Things started changing when he changed.

When he lost the passion.

When the coach allowed him to skip practice.

When Akashi changed.

He'd known Kise changed too.

Or rather, reverted back.

His footsteps had dragged lazily, scraping across the pavement.

_"You know, before I joined the team, I used to hear the sound of the wind. It sounded really horrible. But it's gone now," he said conversationally as he gobbled up a burger._

He wondered if Kise could hear it now.

And of the sound of his steps. Long and heavy.

His ears _really_ hated that sound.

But at that point of time, he couldn't bring himself to care.

* * *

"Aominecchi, how about some one-on-one?"

"No." He lifted the Pocari Sweat to drink.

"Eh, isn't it fine? You have nothing to do anyway, right?"

"What's the use when I know I'll win in the end?"

"… Aominecchi, you're really egotistic. But c'mon, we haven't met in months. I might have improved, you know."

"The only one that can beat me is me," he retorted.

But Aomine let himself be dragged to the nearest basketball court anyway.

.

It was a few months down the road when Kise turned those words against him.

* * *

"Aomine-kun, practice is starting soon."

"Wah, Tetsu!" He placed a hand over his frantically beating heart. "Don't scare me!"

"I apologize. But Kise-kun is nowhere to be seen. Again." Kuroko paused for a few seconds while Aomine swept his eyes over the gym. "At this rate, Nijimura-senpai will kill him."

Aomine grumbled something about 'Kise' and 'annoying', a basketball tucked under his arm.

.

"Aomine-kun," Kuroko started, stopping in his footsteps to stare in a certain direction, "Kise-kun is sleeping again."

The tanned boy turned to look at wherever his friend was staring at and scowled. Sure enough, the model was there. The blond stood, shoulder and head leaning against the window jamb, eyes closed in a peaceful slumber (or at least he thought they were; he couldn't see very well from where he stood).

A vein popped.

"Yeah." He lifted the orange ball he had been holding and threw it to the back of the sleeping boy's head. It landed, of course, right on the mark. Kise fell forward, his chest hitting the window sill as the ball bounced back towards Aomine. Kise would probably fall right over the opened window if the sill was any shorter. Aomine entertained himself with the thought. The tanned ace looked on in amusement as the model rubbed the back of his head and his chest, turning around, his eyelashes fluttering and his brown eyes blinking rapidly as if to rid them of sleep. His eyebrows were scrunched together in annoyance and Aomine noted some drool at the corner of his mouth.

"Seriously." He heard himself saying as Kise's eyes focused on him, his signature pout already forming on his lips. "How can he sleep in that position?"

"I'd thought you'll know. He probably learnt it from you, Aomine-kun."

He didn't reply; he didn't hear.

Kise came over, a whine rising from his throat. The light bounce in his steps was pleasant, the ace decided. Aomine snorted at the complaint, telling him that he deserved it for trying to get himself killed by the captain.

Kuroko studied the two bickering.

When Aomine finally realized the scrutiny, he asked, puzzled, "What?"

"Nothing."

Was it Aomine or did the corner of Kuroko's lips quirked upwards just slightly?

* * *

When the match was over, he had run all the way over to the locker rooms. He was barely aware of opening the door before he stomped towards the ace sitting on the bench. He ignored the others in the same room murmuring about _Aomine Daiki, ace of Touou trespassing_, least of all the captain shouting angrily at him.

Kise looked up, sweat decorating his skin and he smiled. "Aominecchi."

"How's your leg?" He practically snarled; the emotions in his heart too much for him to keep a neutral tone.

"Ah, so you noticed... Mm, it'll be fine." Kise turned his leg around carefully. "He probably isn't going to just leave though." Aomine narrowed his eyes, assessing the cautious way the blond held his leg. He would probably limp for a few days, the tanned boy realized.

_That fucking bastard._

.

A few minutes later, Aomine punched Haizaki Shougo.

* * *

When he saw that Kise was still trying to push himself, injuring himself further, he wanted to go up in the middle of their match and give the dumb model a punch.

* * *

The text messages and phone calls suddenly resumed after Winter Cup.

It was three months later when Kise told him after their one-on-one. He lay sprawled out on the ground, staring skywards. "I heard that you punched Shougo-kun that night."

"Yeah… He deserved it." He swirled the ball in his hands, keeping his eyes on the ball instead of his conversation partner.

Kise rolled his head to the side, a small smile playing on his lips. "You could have gotten into trouble."

"I guess…"

"Aominecchi, thanks."

The power forward glanced back at that. Kise's smile had widened, crinkling the corners of his warm honey brown eyes.

He made a noise in his throat as acknowledgement and he looked away. There was silence. Then he stole a peek back.

For some reason, that broadened the model's smile even more, mirth dancing in his eyes. Aomine decided to keep his eyes on the orange ball in his hands.

Aomine's face was probably flaming. Why it was, he didn't know.

* * *

He slurped his drink, leaning back against the seat in Maji Burger. He took a moment to brace himself before he asked the question he had been wondering. "Oi, Kise. Did you… Did you ever hear the wind again?"

Kise threw the last fry into his mouth, munching on it slowly. "You mean after I joined the basketball club in Teikou? Yeah."

"During the last year of middle school?"

"Yeah." He took a sip from his coke.

"... How about now?"

"After that year _–_ I mean after that practice match Kaijou had with Seirin _–_ I didn't hear it again." He wiped his mouth with tissue (maintaining his image, he explained before). "I'm surprised though. Aominecchi actually remembers?" Then as if something just occurred to him, Kise gasped, a grin on his face. "Is Aominecchi worried?"

"Dream on, idiot." The words were out before he could help it. He stood up. "You're done aren't you, stupid model? C'mon, let's go."

"You're so mean. What happened to the time you called me 'popular and famous'?"

"That was before I found out how annoying you are." He strolled to the door and the Kaijou ace followed after him, pouting.

* * *

His footsteps had a skip in them now.

They seemed to be getting lighter every time they meet up. When Aomine asked if there was anything good happening, the small forward only smiled and hummed a light tone.

"I'm actually surprised Aominecchi agreed on so many one-on-ones," he commented as he stretched, glancing up at the night sky.

"Hah? Well, you've gotten a lot better." It wasn't really a reply. Kise took it as one anyway.

"They make me happy," Kise murmured, pink dusting his cheeks (but that was probably the cold night wind, Aomine thought).

It probably wasn't meant for Aomine to hear but he did.

* * *

The footsteps never got heavier. Aomine had decided he would keep them that way.

* * *

**Kinda fluffy with a little bit of angst inside (if not, it wouldn't be written by me XD) but nothing too much, I feel. I realized this fic could be a friendship fic as well as a romance fic, hence the rating. Well, you make the verdict. XD And protective!Aomine is my favorite Aomine, so... (I also realize that I suck at Kise's PoV so I stayed away from it)**

**Also, this fic. Yeah, very original, I know.**

**I hope you enjoyed it! Please drop a review if possible!**


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